Jeroen Dijsselbloem

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Dijsselbloem, in orange tie, with his Finnish, Belgian and Spanish counterparts last week

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who chairs meetings of his 18 eurozone counterparts, had threatened to bring his eurogroup back to Brussels tomorrow for this year’s first unscheduled meeting on Greece – but only if bailout negotiators agreed on a new set of austerity measures with Athens beforehand. Last night, Mr Dijsselbloem announced that more time was needed to reach a deal, raising the risk that Greece’s bailout standoff could once again be headed for a period of bitter brinkmanship.

Many signs of a repeat of last year’s Grexit drama are present: irreconcilable differences between Athens and its bailout creditors; a looming July debt payment owed to the European Central Bank; angry denunciations by embattled Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras. The risk of a rerun was underlined by reports last night that Mr Tsipras was due to call Donald Tusk, the European Council president, this morning and demand a special summit of eurozone leaders to hash out a way forward.

It’s unlikely eurozone heads of government will want to take up the Greek crisis right now, with a drop-dead deadline still months away and the prospect of another eurogroup meeting looming as early as next week. But differences between the major players in the Greek drama remain deep, and a deal among mid-level negotiators remain stuck on two primary issues:

It’s rare for any government minister to ever admit that a task is beyond them. So it was notable in the European Parliament today when Jeroen Dijsselbloem acknowledged that he’s often at a loss explaining the EU’s budget rules.

Dijsselbloem – who is currently politically triple-hatted as the Dutch finance minister, president of the eurogroup of 17 eurozone finance ministers, and chair of the EU’s council of 28 finance ministers – was explaining to MEPs why he is behind a drive to streamline the eurozone’s budget rules when he admitted he didn’t always know how to explain them himself.

“Why is simplifying our rules important? Because people don’t understand any more what we are doing,” he said. “At least I have a lot of problems explaining to people how our budgetary rules, our fiscal rules work.” Read more

Spain's De Guindos, left, and incumbent Dijsselbloem during a eurogroup meeting

Want to be president of the eurogroup, the increasingly powerful chairman of the group of 19 eurozone finance ministers? Your applications are due a week from Tuesday.

That’s the deadline set in a letter sent today to all members of the so-called “euro working group” – the panel of finance ministry deputies who prepare all eurogroup meetings – which officially kicks off the race to succeed Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister whose term ends next month. We’ve posted a copy of the letter here (and we’ve whited out email address of the officials you need to email your applications to…but if you want to apply, they can be provided by Brussels Blog upon request).

Dijsselbloem himself has already hinted publicly that he will throw his hat into the ring for another two-and-a-half year term, and his likely opponent will be Luis de Guindos, the Spanish finance minister. [UPDATE: Both men announced Friday they will run.]

According to an EU diplomat, Madrid has been lobbying for the issue to be raised at this month’s EU summit, a possible indication De Guindos feels he does not have the votes among the 19 ministers. Read more

When eurozone leaders decided last year it was time for another look at overhauling their common currency, the main driver was Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank chief who has been one of the main figures behind the push to make the eurozone a more fully integrated and centralised union.

But in the months since a Draghi-backed decision for the eurozone’s four presidents – the heads of the European Commission, European Council, eurogroup and ECB – to present another blueprint on the way forward at June’s EU summit, the appetite among political leaders for a step change, always lukewarm, has cooled even more.

If documents sent around to national capitals in recent days ahead of Tuesday’s Brussels meeting of EU “sherpas” – the top EU advisers to all 28 prime ministers – are any indication, the report being pulled together may propose little more than a bit of euro housekeeping in the near term. Although more ambitious plans could be included, the leaked documents show they will be relegated to the medium and long term – a tried and true EU tradition that is normally a recipe for bureaucratic burial.

Among the documents obtained by the Brussels Blog are a three-page summary of what the new report will look like (posted here) as well as a Franco-German contribution (the French version is here) and that of the Italian government (conveniently in English, here).

Although the Italians emerge as the most ambitious reformers of the lot, the “note for discussion by sherpas” makes pretty clear that the measures being contemplated for immediate action are the leftovers from recent reform efforts – streamlining and clarifying the EU’s crisis-era budget rules, for instance, and adding a bit more financial heft to the EU’s bank bailout fund. Read more

Dijsselbloem, left, and Sapin during a February eurogroup meeting in Brussels

Normally, it wouldn’t seem unusual for Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, to be making the rounds to the eurozone’s major capitals. He is, after all, chairman of the eurogroup, the committee of 19 eurozone finance ministers that, among other things, is locked in a prolonged dispute over the Greek bailout.

In addition to Greece, Dijsselbloem has other things to discuss, including a report due in June from the so-called “four presidents” – Dijsselbloem, the ECB’s Mario Draghi, Jean-Claude Juncker at the European Commission, and Donald Tusk at the European Council – on the future of the monetary union.

But Dijsselbloem only has two months left on his term as eurogroup president, and the race between the centre-left Dutchman and his centre-right Spanish counterpart, Luis de Gindos, is beginning to heat up. So is the fact he is in Paris today to meet French political leaders, and in Berlin tomorrow, and Rome on Friday, a bit of a campaign swing as well?

If so, it got off to a good start. The FT’s woman in Paris, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany, went to a joint news conference between Dijsselbloem and his French counterpart Michel Sapin, and reports that the Frenchman was robust in his endorsement of the incumbent:

But the three-hour-long session contained some other nuggets that illustrated anyone who thought Tsipras was going soft after reshuffling his bailout negotiating team on Monday morning may have miscalculated.

At the very top of the show, for instance, he accused Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, of “political weakness” for failing to admit the Greek bailout has been “a failure”.

For eurozone crisis obsessives, another exchange was particularly notable: Tsipras claimed that as part of the critical agreement on February 20 to extend Greece’s bailout through June, he received a verbal commitment that the European Central Bank would allow Athens to sell more short-term debt. Read more

Dijsselbloem, left, with Spanish rival de Guindos during a eurogroup meeting in December

The second quarter of 2015 will not only bring a crescendo in the ongoing Greek crisis for the 19 eurozone finance ministers who make up the eurogroup, which must ultimately decide whether Athens gets the bailout funds it needs to avoid bankruptcy. It will also trigger something nearly as closely-watched by EU insiders: an active race to head the group.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who was the surprise pick to preside over the powerful committee when he was plucked from obscurity just weeks after national elections pushed his party into government in late 2012, will see his two-and-a-half year term end in July.

Protesters outside the Greek finance ministry in Athens during a visit by the troika in 2013

Among the issues plaguing deliberations over the way forward on Greece’s bailout is how the country’s international creditors can verify its economic and fiscal situation without sending monitors to Athens– which would look very much like the return of the hated “troika”.

Alexis Tsipras, the new Greek prime minister, has declared the death of the troika – which is made up of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – but for now, the troika isn’t really dead. The re-branded “institutions” must still evaluate Greece’s reform programme and give it a signoff before any of the remaining €7.2bn in bailout can be disbursed.

But the new Greek government has resisted anyone from the “institutions” showing up in Athens; they were originally supposed to show up this week, but officials said Greek authorities blocked the visit. In a letter Thursday to Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister and eurogroup president, Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, suggested an alternative to a return of “the institutions” to Athens: have them meet in Brussels instead. Wrote Varoufakis:

As for the location of the technical meetings and fact finding and fact-exchange sessions, the Greek government’s view is that they ought to take place in Brussels.

But Dijsselbloem’s response to Varoufakis on Friday, in a letter obtained by the Brussels Blog, suggests officials from the “institutions” may be showing up in Athens after all. Wrote Dijsselbloem: Read more

Dijsselbloem, left, speaks with Varoufakis during a finance ministers' meeting in February

During a 45-minute interview in his Dutch finance ministry office in The Hague, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the eurogroup, offered up a detailed recounting of his month-long negotiations with Athens to secure last week’s agreement extending Greece’s €172bn bailout by four months – as well as his views of what might come next.

Portions of that interview have been be published on the Financial Times website here and here, but as is our normal practice at the Brussels Blog, we thought we’d offer up a more complete transcript of the interview since some of it – including previously undisclosed details about the three eurogroup meetings needed to reach a deal – was left on the cutting room floor and may be of interest to those following the Greek crisis closely. The transcript has been edited very slightly to eliminate cross-talk and shorten occasionally long-winded questions from the interviewer.

The interview started on Dijsselbloem’s decision to travel to Athens to meet Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras just days after the January 25 elections – a visit that was overshadowed by a tension-filled press conference between Dijsselbloem and his Greek counterpart, Yanis Varoufakis, which spurred a market sell-off: Read more

Are the Dutch attempting to lead a mutiny on bank reform? It is hard to tell whether the objections are serious enough to unravel the deal last week on the EU rules for handling a bank crisis. But something mildly rebellious is certainly afoot. And it could end in another golden-gloves showdown between Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, and his Swedish sparring partner Anders Borg.

At issue is the draft deal on the bank recovery and resolution directive (BRRD), which was agreed between negotiators for the European parliament and EU member states on Wednesday, brining to a close months of difficult talks. The reforms give all EU countries a rulebook at national level to handle a bank in trouble and, if necessary, bail-in creditors to help foot the bill.

The Dutch, however, are unimpressed. They think the draft agreement offers too much freedom to governments wanting bailout banks with public money, rather than impose losses on bondholders. And it looks like they have a significant number of allies. Read more

Sweden's Borg, centre, during last night's meeting, where he sparred with his Dutch counterpart

It’s become something of a routine in the EU’s ongoing effort to build a “banking union” that finance ministers try to come to a deal at their normal Brussels meetings – only to fail and call a special emergency session at the 11th hour before a crucial summit.

As part of the big Franco-German deal announced last night in Paris, President François Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel took everyone by surprise by announcing they now want a permanent head of the so-called eurogroup, the committee of 17 eurozone finance ministers that does all the heavy lifting on regional economic policy, including bailouts.

The timing of the agreement (it’s on page 8 of the nine-page “contribution”, which we’ve posted here) is a bit awkward, since a new part-time eurogroup chairman was appointed just six months ago: Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Most EU officials view the deal as more an effort at Franco-German rapprochement than an attempt to force Dijsselbloem out, despite the fact he has stirred controversy in his short tenure in the job. As one senior official put it, agreeing to language that eurozone reforms “could include” a permanent eurogroup chair “is not exactly ousting someone”.

We here at Brussels Blog asked the FT’s man in Amsterdam, Matt Steinglass, to send us the reaction from Dijsselbloem’s homeland:

There is surprise and a bit of resentment. Dijsselbloem was forced to issue a hasty statement that he did not support the move and would not accept the position if it meant he could no longer serve as finance minister.

The joint FT-Reuters interview with Dutch finance minister and eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem after the all-night talks to secure Cyprus’ €10bn bailout has caused a lot of discussion and debate. Dijsselbloem issued a statement after we published saying Cyprus is “a specific case with exceptional challenges” and that “no models or templates” will be used in the future.

To clarify what Dijsselbloem said, we’ve decided to post a transcript of the portion of the interview dealing with how the eurozone might deal with bank failures in the future in light of the Cyprus example.

The interview we conducted alongside Brussels bureau chief Luke Baker of Reuters lasted about 45 minutes, and the portion on bank resolution lasted for about 10 of those minutes. The interview started out with some Cyprus-specific questions – like how capital controls might work, whether Dijsselbloem had learned any lessons form the Cyprus experience – and then shifted to a discussion about whether north-south relations were hampering EU decision making.

That’s when Baker asked the first question about whether Cyprus set a precedent for future bank rescues:

Q: To what extent does the decision taken last night end up setting a template for bank resolution going forward?

A: What we should try to do and what we’ve done last night is what I call “pushing back the risks”. In times of crisis when a risk certainly turns up in a banking sector or an economy, you really have very little choice: you try to take that risk away, and you take it on the public debt. You say, “Okay, we’ll deal with it, give it to us.”

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The authors

Alex Barker is the FT's Brussels bureau chief, covering foreign policy, some of the migration crisis and all things Brexit. He started in Brussels on the single market, financial regulation and competition beat. He was formerly an political correspondent in Westminster and joined the FT in 2005.

Duncan Robinson is the FT's Brussels correspondent, covering internet and telecommunications regulation, justice, employment and migration as well as Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He joined the FT from the New Statesman in 2011.

Jim Brunsden joined the Financial Times as an EU Correspondent in August 2015. He began his career in Brussels in 2006, as a reporter first for Europolitics, and then European Voice. Prior to joining the FT he covered financial regulation for Bloomberg from 2010 to 2015.